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yesterday i wired up a wet switch to a rheem system in an attic. the wiring was a pack rats nest and i wraped my common into a nest of common wires under a nut. i should have taken the time to untwist the nest and properly lay each wire next to each other and assure a good conection. to contine my story---- the wet switch had the green light lit. so i assumed all was well. well the stat din,t have any digital numbers in display. so i went bach in attic and checked my hots all was well and wet switch was red. on the way down the rickety on ladder the bottom two step broke. my day was going to hell tooo much time in the calll . so i take the stat off the wall plate and check voltage between red and common 21 volts. so i suspect the stat is bad. i put stat on wallplate and display is there. i then switch to cooling and it disappears. lady says she has had stat troubles before so i really think its stat. so i beging to fix ladder and call senior tech ... buddy. he is on way while i fix ladder. my happy fri has gone to hell. well i get some metal out o truck and screws and repair ladder before he gets there. he goes up and finds common going to stat not tighty under wire nut. he then redoes common connection under nut i measure voltage at stat its 29 volts and all is fine.

so lesson here--- time is money bu,t you must take enough to fix rats nest of wires under nut. i keep looking at lit green on wet switch and 21 volts at stat wall plate and could only think bad stat.

so here is the question what is the min voltage to look for in order for a stat and other components such as contactor of relay to work? its not 21 hehehehe

Whenever I see a rat's nest of low voltage wiring, let's just say it's not a rat's nest any longer when I'm finished. It doesn't take all that long to kill the power, segregate the wires and connections, replace or tighten any loose connections, and then put it all back neatly so it's not mass confusion and headache for the next tech.

Tip: any time you make a change to low voltage controls or wiring and a problem subsequently pops up, chances are your changes are what brought on the problem. It may not even be your fault, but your work aggravated the problem. In your case I'd be all over what I did upstairs before even considering that the thermostat may be at fault.

It may not sit well with some folks, but the saying is true, "Work smarter, not harder". It makes for happier Fridays.

shophound is right
most problems with low vottage is the rat nest you come across. alot of installers dont realize the importance of making suer it is done neat and correct
most times it is more cost affective to just rip it apart and do it right and neat so next time someone can see what is going on.
working smart doesnt take as much time as working hard does

That is so true. Done a job here while back the had gas heat, ac and duct heaters for humid. purposes. had to add 2 relays per manuf. specs. On the cond. I used yellow, fan green, and white on heat and blue as common. I did it for later troubleshooting done the road. The guy that is "training me " used every color in the book lot of tracing will be done later to me. Do it neat save you headaches later.

I don't like those wet switches if that is the electronic version of the regular old float switch your talking about but I have installed them, but I always make sure it's directly connected to the transformer and not the board or anything else.

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Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards". -Vernon Law-